finding he must sink under it, he resolved that the last scene of his life should at least equal in enormity all that had preceded. To accomplish his purpose, he summoned the nobility and gentry of every city, town and village, in Judea. When they arrived, he commanded his soldiers to shut them up in the circus. Then sending for his sister, Salome, and her husband, with a few chosen friends, he said, with tears in his eyes, that if they would afford him any consolation in the bitter anguish he endured, they must promise to perform his last request; which they did. He then told them that he knew the hatred in which he was held by the Jews, and that they would rejoice at his removal, but he intended that the mourning and lamentations at his death should be as great and magnificent as ever any prince had. He then gave orders that, immediately after his dissolution, the soldiers should enter the circus, put all the persons enclosed to the sword, and then publish his death, which would cause his exit to be doubly triumphant: first, for the execution of his demands; and, secondly, for the quality and number of his mourners. In a short time after, his pains returning with double force, he attempted to stab himself, but was prevented. This monster of cruelty consummated his atrocious deeds by having his son Antipater beheaded; and in five days after was himself summoned by the Great Judge of all the earth to yield up his life, in the seventieth year of his age and the thirtyseventh of his reign, dividing his dominion between his three sons, Archelaus, Antipas, and Philip. The cruel plot laid by Herod before his death was not carried out; his brother and sister released the captives prior to the publishing of the king's death. Though Herod conformed to the Jewish religion, and put himself to so much expense and pains in reconstructing and beautifying the temple, yet at the same time he introduced many of the Pagan customs and games used at Rome, which must have had a tendency to corrupt the people. He likewise changed the high priest as often as he thought fit; put to death their legal king; and extirpated the whole race of the Maccabees, including some of his most intimate friends and near relatives. He likewise destroyed the members of the great Sanhedrim, and substituted others in their places; so that, setting aside some appearances of generosity and greatness, there never was a more complete tyrant. Such men are set up in history as so many beacons; and fearful warnings are they to mankind. We see by them to what depth of depravity man is fallen. How many of our young readers feel their hearts to be as bad? It may shock some to tell them that their hearts are, by nature, no better; but what saith the Scripture, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" The Scriptures, that cannot be broken, say of all mankind: "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: their feet are swift to shed blood: destruction and misery are in their ways: and the way of peace have they not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes." (To be continued.) BIBLE ENIG MA. WHICH is the first of Isaiah's five Titles of Christ? Who valued and sold the Blood of Christ ? Who owned and confessed the Divinity of Christ ? What great word is found in one Promise of Christ? Which son despised home in the Parable of Who prophesied once of the Coming of Christ ? Who turned from Paul, and the Gospel of Christ ? What must we go through to the Crown of Christ ? These initials will form the great question of Christ. Answer, readers, that love the salvation of Christ. ELIZABETH. "Let such as love Thy salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified." JAFFA. JAFFA, or Joppa of the ancients, was originally the principal harbour of Judea. The town is approached on the land side through rich and extensive gardens and orchards, and is very picturesquely situated upon an eminence. There are no public buildings to engage the eye, and the interior of the city is wretched in the extreme. It was from Joppa that the prophet Jonah embarked when he was sent to preach to the Ninevites. Joppa is mentioned in the New Testament in connexion with the visit of the apostle Peter, who here raised Tabitha from the dead, and lodged in the outskirts of the town with Simon the tanner, when favoured with the vision which taught him to call no man unclean. TRUTH AND FALSEHOOD. AMONG all the faults of children, none are more common than falsehood and deceit, and none more detestable and dreadful. How hateful are liars in the eyes of the pure and holy God! "He requireth truth in the inward parts," and "Lying lips are an abomination unto the Lord." How grievous and distressing it is to gracious parents and teachers, when the children whom they have endeavoured to train in the ways of truth turn aside to lying! No habit can be more dangerous if once indulged; it grows stronger and stronger with growing years. Nothing is a greater blot upon the character. If a child has been guilty of any other fault, when he confesses and promises amendment, pardon is granted, and the offence is forgotten: he is |